A former soldier who claimed gardai gave him drugs to befriend Ian Bailey was arrested just hours before he was due to meet the journalist’s lawyer.

Martin Graham, 52, has alleged officers gave him cannabis to help him get Mr Bailey to confess to the 1996 murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

In February, Mr Graham broke his 17-year silence in an explosive interview with the Sunday Mirror and made shocking allegations of Garda corruption.

Following on from the piece Mr Bailey’s lawyer Frank Buttimer made contact with Mr Graham and the pair agreed to meet in the UK in late March.

However, the Irish Mirror can reveal that Mr Graham was arrested by Northamptonshire police just hours before the meeting on March 22 for alleged infraction of bail conditions.

The Cork-based lawyer was in the UK at the time and only received notification of this when he returned to his own office back in Ireland on the Monday.

A source close to the investigation explained the timing of the arrest was “extremely coincidental”.

They added: “Martin Graham can’t understand why he was arrested at that time and is convinced it is because he was due to meet Frank Buttimer.

“Mr Buttimer flew over the UK and drove to the town of Towcester where he was due to meet Martin Graham.

“But the witness did not show and calls to his mobile phone were not returned. Mr Buttimer was understandably upset about this and returned to Co Cork.

On that Monday he went to his office where he had an email from Northamptonshire police, sent at the request of Mr Graham.

“It said that Mr Graham wished to apologise for his failure to appear.”

Ian Bailey (Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire)

Ms Toscan du Plantier was found brutally murdered in her summer home in Schull, Co Cork, on December 23, 1996.

English journalist Mr Bailey, who was living in the area, was arrested twice for the murder but has always denied any involvement.

Both he and his partner Jules Thomas are currently suing the State for wrongful arrest.

Details about a series of illegal recordings made in Bandon Garda station at the time of the investigation emerged in recent weeks.

Among these were eight telephone calls between a named detective and Mr Graham which were recorded in May and June 1997. The calls appear to confirm Mr Graham was given drugs and money in return for gathering incriminating evidence about Mr Bailey.

A series of calls between members of the force and another witness Marie Farrell were also recorded from early January to December of the same year.

The calls were recorded at a critical time in the Garda investigation, when Ms Farrell later claimed she came under pressure to wrongly identify Mr Bailey as a suspect.

All this material was handed over to Mr Bailey as part of his High Court case against the State.

The revelation this illegal recording was taking place in Garda stations led to huge political reaction and it emerged publicly shortly after Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan retired early.

Mr Buttimer last night confirmed details of the arrest.

He said: “I can verify that I did travel out to meet Mr Graham at 10am on that date. He failed to appear and I received an email from the detention centre Mr Graham was being held in.”